How do I use a custom domain name for my blog?

Blogger offers two free publishing options for your blog: hosting on Blogspot (example.blogspot.com) and hosting on your own custom domain (www.example.com or foo.example.com). You can change your publishing option at anytime, and your content will always remain unaltered regardless of which of these options you choose.

Before you move your blog to a custom domain, you need to have already purchased a custom domain (www.example.com) from another provider, as you can no longer purchase custom domains through Blogger. There are many companies from whom you can buy domain names, usually for very reasonable yearly prices. A Google search for "domain registrar" will turn up numerous options. Here's a quick list:

If your content is in a different language and you'd like to purchase a country-specific domain, you can do a search for local registrars. For example, if your blog is in French and you'd like a www.example.fr domain, then you should look for "Domain registrar in France."

Where would you like to host your blog?On a top-level domain (www.example.com).

1. Go to your blog and click on Basics under the Settings tab. In the "Publishing" section, click the link to add a custom domain.

2. Type www. then the url of the domain you've purchased.

3. Click Save.

4. You should see an error, and two CNAMEs listed below. Each CNAME is composed of two parts. The first CNAME is the same for everyone, and is "www" and "ghs.google.com." The second CNAME is particular to your blog and your Google Account, and is therefore different for each person.

5. Go to your domain registrar's website and locate the DNS (Domain Name System) settings in the control panel.

6. Now it's time to enter the CNAMEs. Where it says Name, simply enter "www" and list ghs.google.com as the Host Name.

7. Now enter the second CNAME in the same way.

8. Optional: You can also enter A-records, which links your naked domain (example.com) to an actual site (www.example.com). If you skip this step, visitors who leave off the "www" will see an error page.

9. Enter your domain name in the format example.com, and list the I.P. addresses shown below in the "A" section. You'll need to create four separate A-records which point to four different Google IPs.

216.239.32.21

216.239.34.21

216.239.36.21

216.239.38.21

End of optional section

10. Before you move onto the final step, wait about an hour for your DNS settings to activate. If you attempt the final step before your settings are activated, we'll let you know with a warning message.

11. After your settings have been activated, you need to make sure Blogger knows about your custom domain so that Google can direct readers to your blog. Just head back to Blogger and update the information on your Settings | Basic tab. Find the area for "Publishing," and click the link to add a custom domain.

Enter in the URL for your custom domain in the text box provided, and click Save.

That’s it! Your blogspot.com address will soon redirect to your new custom domain -- be patient, as it might take up to 24 hours for the redirect to start working. If you're still seeing an error after 24 hours, it means your settings weren't entered correctly and you should try the process a second time.

Some helpful notes:

If your new domain isn't taking you to your blog, wait another day or two to make sure all the DNS servers have been updated. If it still isn't working, contact your registrar to make sure you entered the DNS settings correctly.

Your original Blogspot address will automatically forward to your new domain. That way, any existing links or bookmarks to your site will still work.

Your posted images will continue to display on your blog.